Patients’ Characteristics Can Predict Clinical Outcomes Following Hip Arthroscopy by Reflecting the Patterns of Labral Tears: A Retrospective Observational Study

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the relationship between morphological differences in labral tears and clinical features of the hip joint in patients who underwent hip arthroscopy. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data from patients who underwent arthroscopic surgery for the treatment of labral tears. Hip labral tears were morphologically classified as longitudinal peripheral tears (group L), radial fibrillated tears (group FI), radial flaps (group FL), and an unstable labrum (group U). Radiographically, the center–edge angle, acetabular roof obliquity, vertical-center-anterior angle, alpha angle, femoral head-neck offset ratio, and crossover sign were evaluated and compared among the groups. The relationship between labral morphology and these radiographic findings, as well as clinical findings, such as age, gender, preoperative range of hip motion, and the clinical outcomes using modified Harris Hip Score (mHHS) were also examined. Results: This study included fifty patients. Groups L and FI were often observed in late middle-aged patients with relatively shallow acetabular coverage. Group FL tears were frequently observed in young males with radiographic features, such as femoroacetabular impingement (FAI), compared to the other groups. Group U comprised mostly young females with relatively shallow acetabular coverage compared to the other groups. For the postoperative mHHS, group FL showed the best score among all groups, with a significant difference between groups FL and FI (p = 0.034). Conclusions: Our study revealed that morphologically, different labral tears were associated with different clinical features and radiological findings. Especially, our study can provide predictive findings for hip arthroscopists that younger males with FAI show better clinical outcomes when compared to middle-aged females with shallow acetabulum, which is indicative of degenerative hip labral tears. Level of evidence: IV case series.